First Smoke on MES Side Box

[cflbob]

After thinking lots and going back and forth over all the options, my wife and I decided to get the Masterbuilt side smoker box for my MES 30" digital.  If I had to pick reason in a nutshell, it just seemed like the closest thing to the no-brainer option.  It's a product Masterbuilt made for the Masterbuilt smoker, they should work together. 

We picked up one at Amazon before Christmas but just ran chips for an hour or two to season it.  Today was my day to try it out.  My plan was to try a couple of pounds of cheese and then hot smoke some salmon.  I picked up everything Thursday at the grocery store.  I made a basic brine for the salmon like I used to use for smoking the local saltwater fish (no salmon around here): 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar in a quart of water, with some soy sauce, garlic and onion powders.  Left the salmon to brine overnight 10  hours or so, then rinsed it this morning and let it dry in the kitchen to form a pellicle. 

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• cflbob
• Dec 31, 2016

Right before the cheese went into the MES. 

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• cflbob
• Dec 31, 2016

My one-year old MES digital 30 on my cart with the side smoker getting started.  Since I'm in Florida. even though it was cooler today than the last few weeks, 68 for the high instead of 80+, I figured I'd need ice in there, so I emptied out the ice maker into a big pot. 

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• cflbob
• Dec 31, 2016

Once I got the chamber temp to stay around 65, I started the side box and put the cheese in the MES. 

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• cflbob
• Dec 31, 2016

Just two pounds of cheese: two half pound blocks of Cabot extra sharp cheddar and one pound of muenster.  Two hours later, the smoker was around 70 degrees, and I pulled the cheese out and put it in the kitchen, then put the salmon in the smoker.  I set it to 100 for the first hour, then set it to 150 until the IT reached 145.  All smoke courtesy of the side box, nothing in the MES 30 itself. 

Salmon.JPG

• cflbob
• Dec 31, 2016

This is just out of the smoker and still warm.  It turned out very good, and my wife and I already knocked down two of those chunks, but it was only one pound of salmon. 

I had one surprise with the side box that I was wondering if other folks have seen.  I had just dumped in a generous handful or two of chips when I started the cheese, so I wasn't that surprised when the smoke was vanishing by the two hour mark.  I opened the box to add more chips and the bottom of the little tower went from glowing chips to open flames when I pulled the little square cap off.  I added chips carefully, but when the salmon was done and everything had been off long enough to take apart, I found that there was a clog of chips in the middle of the chip chute (column?).  I probably could have hit it with a poker (long screwdriver or something), and got the smoke going again if I had thought to look for a clog, but it would not have given me the desired six hours of smoke without doing that.  The longer smoke generation time is one of the main reasons I went for this one.

FWIW, I used the apple wood chips that Bass Pro sells. 

Anyway, I read here far more than I post, and I've gathered information from lots of folks, so thanks to everyone for helping me learn all the time. 

Bob

 

[SmokinAl]

Hi Bob,

Everything looks delicious.

I'm in Florida too & have a similar setup, but I run a pipe between the smoker & the cold smoker.

It cleans & cools the smoke before it enters the smoker.

I also keep a wood dowel handy because the chips do tend to bind up in the chute.

I found that if you load the chute from the top they don't bind up as often.

The easiest way to do that is put the chips on a paper plate & fold it so the chips slide right into the chute.

This works well when you have to add chips in the middle of the smoke too.

Also I very seldom get more than 3 hours out of a full chute.

Here's my setup.

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• SmokinAl
• Jan 1, 2017

Hope this helps!

Al

 

[cflbob]

Thanks, Al, 

I didn't know you could load chips from the bottom - didn't even think of it.  When I had the little flames coming up to the top of the chip chute, I folded up a piece of aluminum foil into a makeshift funnel.  Still dropped a little around the chute but less than by hand.  Same idea as the paper plate. 

Your pipe is the next idea I wanted to try.  I didn't because I roll my smoker out of the garage for every use, and it's convenient to have them both on the same cart.

With three hours out of a load of chips, I might just leave the permanently attached.  Aside from cold smoking, my main reason was that I want to do some longer smokes, like a brisket, where I'd start at midnight and go through until the next afternoon. I'd still rather get up every three hours to feed it than every hour. 

My other MES is the 30" analog model, and aside from requiring more attention because of the little control on the side, it has a bigger chip tray that will last longer. 

I think the next experiment is to try a pork butt.  Those are good for an all day smoke and ought to test out the side box better.

 

[SmokinAl]

You may want to look at a AMAZEN pellet smoker.

Either the tray or tube. The tray will give you 9-10 hours of smoke.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/

Al

 

[cflbob]

I think I've read every post about the Amazen systems on here, and there must be a thousand.  I wasn't convinced. There were far too many reports of problems with that, too.  Too many find it hard to light or to keep lit.  I read about "dry the chips in the oven" or "dry them in the microwave", and living in a state where we have oppressive humidity 3/4 of the year, that sounds like it's going to add more prep time every time I use the smoker.  I thought I never had my Masterbuilt chip burners go out.  Yeah, the trays don't burn long, but they always burn. 

Right now, I'm less sure the Masterbuilt box is as much a "no-brainer" as I thought two weeks ago when I bought it.  If I have to check it all the time to make sure it's still smoking, then it's not a big improvement.